Recently, the Internet was flooded by the space elevator, and the attention on the Bennu asteroid did not gain enough traction.
From the beginning of the doomsday in 2000 to the bland Christmas in 2012, people had been baptized by all kinds of doomsday theories.
Even if Jiang Chen stood in front of the media and told them that there was a space colonization ship from the stars that flew from 20.5 light-years away to the solar system for almost a century, people would at most laugh and label the wealthy president as "humorous" and "loves to tell cold jokes".
Thanks to this, the protests against Celestial Trade's irresponsibility were harsh, but not strong.
However, this did not mean that some countries would give up using this as an entry point and criticize Celestial Trade's "space hegemony".
For example, the UA, their partner, the European Union, and Latin American countries.
ESA first protested against Xin's "irresponsible" behavior and asked Xin to explain this incident at the United Nations General Assembly in September this year.
Hua only expressed that it would pay close attention to the progress of this incident and believed that Xin would properly handle the Bennu asteroid problem. Considering the recent cooperation with Celestial Trade on the microgravity laboratory project, Hua's diplomatic rhetoric was relatively peaceful, but it was obviously dissatisfied with Celestial Trade's decision to bring the Bennu asteroid into the Earth-Moon system without the knowledge of the international community.
The UA's rhetoric was quite tough, demanding that Xin immediately provide evidence to prove the safety of the Bennu asteroid, otherwise NASA would begin to study a plan to destroy the Bennu asteroid in outer space.
When Jiang Chen heard the trouble in Zhang Yaping's words, he suddenly laughed and said disdainfully.
"Destroy? I'll put it there for them to destroy. Can they destroy it? "
The difficulty of landing on an asteroid was much more difficult than landing on the Moon, and it was even more difficult to transport enough explosives to blow it up. Of course, Jiang Chen believed that NASA had the ability to calculate the orbit of the asteroid and that SpaceX had the ability to send explosives there.
But!
Send dozens of tons of special explosives up and install them? Just because of that toothpick from Falcon 9? Send 10% of the UA's annual military budget to SpaceX, then give them two years to study the plan and implement the plan. Jiang Chen believed that they might really be able to blow up the Bennu asteroid.
Anyway, his space elevator wouldn't help to send explosives.
Jiang Chen's reply to Zhang Yaping was also very simple.
"There's only one way to solve this problem, drag it out."
"We've already started the mining plan ahead of time. We'll release the edited asteroid mining video soon."
"Aren't they worried about being hit in the head by an asteroid? Let's show them the difference between the natives and civilized people. When they see the strength of our knives on the asteroid, they won't be so suspicious. "
"I have to go to Future Mining in a bit, so I'll be hanging up first."
…
In the Pentagon, William James, wearing a Marine Corps uniform, was led by a female secretary to the door of a conference room.
He had just returned from Coro Island. Almost as soon as he got off the plane, he was invited here by his superior.
The female secretary nodded slightly to him, pushed open the door of the conference room for him, and then stepped aside.
James thanked him and walked into the room. When he saw the people in the conference room, he was surprised.
There was no way he didn't know NASA Director Bolden. In this country with severe racial discrimination, a person who could become a minister was a hero or idol worshipped by African immigrants. Sitting next to Bolden was Anthony Kerrigan, the director of the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He was a thin white man with a hooked nose and freckles.
Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. This incredible department also had another nickname, which was "S.H.I.E.L.D."
As for the two people sitting at the head of the table, they were even more incredible.
One was the current Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, and the other was President Hill.
After taking a deep breath, William James was about to salute his boss, but Mr. Carter didn't plan to talk nonsense with him. He couldn't wait to speak.
"Mr. James, we want to hear what you've seen in Celestial City."
William James certainly wouldn't refuse. The reason why the UA government sent this Marine Corps Captain to participate in the first train ceremony was to gather intelligence.
The black soldier nodded, swallowed his saliva, and said.
"After about a five-hour voyage, we arrived at the geosynchronous orbit space station, which is Celestial City."
"It's a little slower than a rocket." Mr. Kerrigan lowered his voice and said next to Hill, "Our Falcon rocket won't take half an hour."
SpaceX received technical support from DARPA when developing the Falcon series of rockets, so Kerrigan's use of the term "our Falcon rocket" was not wrong. But when he said this, Bolden glanced at him but didn't say anything. After two seconds, he looked away.
Hill nodded and didn't speak. She continued to look at James seriously and waited for the soldier to continue.
"After arriving at the terminal, Celestial Trade sent a tour guide to take us into the interior of Celestial City."
"According to him, the entire Celestial City is a ring, and the ring is also the counterweight of the space elevator. There are subways, living units, and external space stations … "
At this point, William James paused, and a trace of fascination gradually appeared in his eyes.
"The most shocking thing is that they moved farmland into the space station."
The senior officials looked at each other, and only Kerrigan looked disdainfully as he began to spin his pen.
"There are also planting units on the International Space Station. This is not a special technology, and it's not surprising. As early as ten years ago, we saw pumpkins brought back from the International Space Station. Is there anything else besides this? "
Hill and Ashton also nodded in agreement.
It was not a novel technology to grow vegetables in space. As early as ten years ago, the UA had already solved this problem in the laboratory. Fourteen years later, they approved the establishment of space farms in the UA area of the International Space Station and successfully planted a variety of surface plants such as cabbages and carrots.
Compared with these insignificant technologies, they were more concerned about the potential value of Celestial City in military and economic aspects.
Among all the people present, only Bolden was indifferent. After returning from the United Nations Outer Space Summit, he knew very well how advanced Celestial Trade's aerospace technology was.
It was not appropriate to contradict his boss, but William James felt it was necessary to remind everyone present, so he whispered.
"But they have an area of two thousand acres …"
The conference room was so quiet that even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.
The spinning pen already fell on the notebook, and Kerrigan's mouth opened slightly, closed, and then opened again like a robot.
Hill was expressionless, truly expressionless, because she didn't know how to express the shock in her heart.
Even Bolden's dark face changed slightly. Even if he was prepared, he was still shocked by Celestial Trade's generosity.
Is it easy to grow vegetables in space? It is indeed very simple.
But what about large-scale cultivation? These are two completely different concepts!
An external space station with an area of more than two thousand acres? Is this really a space station?
Seeing that his immediate boss didn't seem to be in a good mood, William James hesitated and whispered, "… Do I need to continue the report?"
"Go on," Hill said in a deep voice.
Seeing Ashton nod, William James continued to speak.
"Most of the space stations are idle open spaces. We only saw one of those two thousand acres of farmland."
Everyone in the room was relieved. It seemed that this kind of shocking thing was not so easy to build. Even with the financial resources of Celestial Trade, they only built one.
But immediately after, William James's words made everyone's mood, which had just improved with great difficulty, instantly fall to the bottom of the abyss. Corrigan's jaw, which he had just managed to close, dropped again.
"I asked the tour guide why the open spaces were left idle and not all planted with wheat. He told me that this kind of external universal space station has many uses, not just for farming. They are going to build houses and factories on it. Just because the population of Celestial City is very small now, there is no need to develop so many agricultural areas … "
At this moment, William James's speech was interrupted. An assistant-looking man pushed open the door and rushed into the conference room.
Facing the dissatisfied gazes, he couldn't care less at this moment. He took out the iPhone 8 from his pocket and walked in the direction of Hill with a serious expression.
"What's the matter? Mr. Eric, don't you know we are in a meeting now — "
"Celestial Trade has made a new move! You asked me to keep an eye on them. Believe me, I definitely didn't mean to break into the conference room. Please allow me to take up three minutes of your time! "
With that said, the man called Eric tapped on his mobile phone a few times, then presented the mobile phone in front of Hill.
It was a video, and it looked like it was edited from a sci-fi film …
Hill frowned slightly. Why did the assistant of the Capitol break into the conference room to show her this kind of Hollywood movie? Ashton glanced at the video. At first, he didn't think much of it, but soon his expression gradually became interesting.
Bolden, who was sitting next to him, froze the moment he saw the panoramic view of the asteroid.
After a while, his stiff facial muscles twitched, and he whispered.
"This is the Bennu asteroid … The video doesn't look like CG."
Hilary, who was watching with great interest, was stunned. She looked at the phone with an expression as if she had seen a ghost and cried out in shock.
"This is impossible!"
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
